Blogs

When I added recognition of version 4 groups in version 3.6.2, I did so for tests, but services, filters, notifiers and reports can also have groups in version 4. So here's Simon 3.6.4 to fix an issue with editing those.

One of the many enhancements in Simon 4, which was actually also retrofitted to Simon 3.6.2 and later, was the introduction of an optional password feature. This was requested by a volume purchaser of Simon, who also paid for the unusual step of retrofitting it to Simon 3.

The password feature can be used to require a password when Simon is launched or activated. This provides some level of security to prevent unauthorized people from accessing Simon. It doesn't encrypt data or any other changes, it's just a simple access control.

By default, a password is not required. If you want to require one, open up the Preferences. Notice the new Choose Password... button and the text to the left indicating that a password hasn't been set:

Click the button to display the password sheet. If a password hasn't already been set, the first field will be disabled (and display "None"). If one has been set, enter the existing password there. The next two fields are for the new password; enter the same one in both, or leave them both blank to disable the password feature. If entering a password, you should also enter a hint that will remind you of the password (without being too obvious):

After setting a password, the text in the Preferences window will change to indicate so:

When a password has been set, whenever you activate Simon it will display an unlock sheet, asking for the password. It includes a Quit button to quickly stop Simon, and a Cancel to deactivate Simon. After two failed attempts, it will display the password hint (if any); after two more failed attempts, it'll disallow further attempts until after you quit or cancel:

I expect that most people won't need this feature, but for those who do, it should prove quite useful.

When I released the major version 4 upgrade of Dejal Simon, I included a couple of new default tests as examples for new customers. One of them is named "Dejal posts", and actually includes a quite sophisticated set of filters.

The general idea of this test is to look at the Recent Posts page of the Dejal site, which lists all recent blog, forum, FAQ etc posts and their comments, and output some tidy text describing the most recent one, along with a changed state when a new post or comment is added.

I thought it'd be interesting to break down this test as an example and tutorial for new and existing customers — even long-term users might learn something!

Firstly, here's the Service page; nothing remarkable here (the cookies are automatically recorded, and unimportant for this test):

The most interesting page is the Filters one (click to see it full-size; you might want to use the appropriate modifier key for your browser to open in a new window):

When you check the test and look in the Activity log, you can see the output from each of those filters (from bottom to top) — click to see full-size:

Another way to view the output is via the Preview pane, which now includes not only the service response and headers, but also the full output of each filter, to help you diagnose each step.

Here's the output of the service; the full HTML of the web page:

Let's break down each of the filters, via the Preview filter output.

The first filter, a Block one, takes the service response as its Input, and has Start text of <tbody> and End text of <td class="replies">. This finds the first occurrence of each of those bits of HTML in the service response, which corresponds with the most recent post information:

This filter outputs that:

The second filter is another Block one. It takes the output of the first filter as its input, and narrows it down further to just the title of the post. Notice that it also uses options disclosed on the right-hand-side of the filter configuration: it looks for the second occurrence of the Start text, searching from the beginning of the input:

The output of this filter is the post title:

The third filter is yet another Block (it is one of the most useful filters), but the input is different: this time it uses the output of the first filter, instead of the previous one (as is the default). It also has an option to look for the third occurrence:

It extracts the author information:

Filter number four is different. It uses a Ignore Links filter to extract out just the author name from the previous filter output. The previous filter doesn't do this as when you're not logged in on the Dejal site, only the name is included (in which case this filter has no effect):

The output is just the non-HTML part of the input:

Next we're back to a Block filter again, but this time looking at the original service response text to extract the number of replies to the post:

This should always output a number:

We then use a new filter introduced in version 4, Singular or Plural, to take the number found in the previous filter and output "reply" if it is one, or "replies" for any other number:

As seen in the preview:

The last filter puts it all together: an Override Custom filter uses variables to combine the output of several filters in a nice readable way. In this case all the variables are variations of the filter output, but other variables are available too. Something that isn't immediately obvious is that you can insert numbers to reference specific filters (otherwise it refers to the previous one):

Which results in:

So now that we've got some nice output text, what do we do with it? Of course, you can just see it in the Tests list, if you have the last change and failure displayed:

But you'll probably want to get a notification. For myself, in addition to some generic speech notifiers, I have a notifier to post to the @SimonBot Twitter account; an account I added just for Simon to tweet about Dejal site changes:

The SimonBot notifier also uses variables to add more information about the test:

You're welcome to follow @SimonBot to learn about Dejal news and discussions.

I hope this case study is helpful. Most tests don't need a series of filters like this, and there are other ways to achieve similar effects (like writing all the logic in a script), but it can be very useful when you want it. You can use similar techniques in your own tests.

I plan to do more case studies or tips on Simon features in the future; please leave a comment if you like this or find it useful, or have suggestions for other things you'd like me to cover.

Today I released two new open source projects: a tiny one, DejalUtilities, and a significantly larger one, DejalFoundationCategories.

DejalFoundationCategories is a collection of Foundation-level categories, to add useful methods to classes like NSArray, NSDictionary, NSString, and others. They work on both OS X and iOS, and include:

I know that I just said that BlogAssist doesn't need any updates, but apparently I was wrong: I had a report that the Substitutions preference page didn't behave properly under Yosemite. So here's a fix.

Another year is coming to a close, so let's review what happened with the Dejal apps in 2014:

My flagship product to monitor websites and servers for changes and failures, Simon, had a big year in 2014. It started the year with the version 3.6 release, and ended it with the biggest upgrade ever, to version 4.0, with a radical new design and many significant improvements, both visible and behind the scenes.

My handy break reminder tool, Time Out, had several alpha builds of version 2 in 2014. Work on it kept being sidelined by other projects, mostly my contract work on Profile, but the builds slowly improved the app. As previously mentioned, everyone who makes a donation for Time Out now will be automatically eligible for the full-featured paid edition at no additional cost — so you can set your own price for it now! This offer expires when version 2 is released. This also makes you eligible for the alpha; after donating, tell me if you'd like to try it. Thank you to everyone who has already donated; the volume of donations is really encouraging.

Caboodle, my lean clean snippet machine, didn't see any updates in 2014. I do have a new version in the works, which I'll finish off and release once I get Time Out 2 out.

BlogAssist, my tool to help with HTML markup, also wasn't updated in 2014. It isn't a huge seller, so I'm not sure I can justify devoting much time to it. But I use it myself regularly, so I have no plans to discontinue it any time soon. It's basically great as-is.

I introduced a new app in 2014: Pack, a simple iPhone app to make it easy to pack for trips. I actually wrote this for myself a couple of years ago, and have used a pre-release build when packing for vacations and other travel of my wife and I ever since. This year, I polished it up and released it as my first freemium app. Try it for your next trip!

Tweeps, an app for iOS to easily manage Twitter accounts, was updated to version 3.3, including the modern iOS 7 & 8 look.

Profile, a client for Intrahealth's powerful medical practice management system, is where I spent the vast majority of my time once again, as contract work. It hasn't had a public update for a while, but internal builds have numerous improvements. I'm no longer working on this project; Intrahealth has taken maintenance of it in-house, as they continue to grow and refine their processes.

So what's coming up in 2015? Firstly, I am currently looking for a new contract or salary position as an iOS and/or Mac developer. I enjoy working on the Dejal products, but they don't bring in enough to pay the bills, so have always been more of a hobby side-business for me. If you have any leads, please refer them to me; see the Dejal consulting page for more about me.

For my own projects, I am about to get back to work on Time Out 2.0 — full-time until I find some other project. I'll also have updates of Simon, Caboodle and others throughout the year.

Thank you and welcome to my new customers, and many thanks to my long-term customers who are still enjoying my apps. I really appreciate your support. I'm very excited about the much-anticipated Time Out 2 release in the coming year, and other projects in the pipeline.

My blog posts often just cover new releases, but sometimes I post general-interest or developer-interest topics. I haven't written all that much over the past couple of years, but some highlights from 2013 and 2014 included:

Fixed an issue that prevented the password preference from being used under OS versions before Yosemite.

As I said in my previous post, if you're using OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), I recommend that you upgrade to version 4, if you haven't already. It includes heaps of great improvements. But if you're on 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to 10.9 (Mavericks), I recommend that you download Simon 3.6.3 now.

Strange as it may seem (to me, anyway) to do a version 3 release after version 4 (out of order releases hurt my brain!), here it is: Simon version 3.6.2.

This is a bug-fix update of version 3, to fix some compatibility issues with version 4. It also retrofits the password feature from version 4, at the request of a volume purchase customer who paid extra for that... yes, sometimes I can be bribed. ;)

And yes, this version still uses the old icon — that makes it easier to distinguish versions 3 & 4.

Here are the changes since 3.6.1 in 3.6.2:

Added an option in General Preferences to specify a password to use to unlock Simon access.

If set, the password is required when launching or switching to Simon.

(A note for beta testers: you may need to log out and back in, or use the Terminal killall Dock command, to make the "beta" sash on the app icon disappear. And thanks again for your help in making this general release great!)

A Major Upgrade!

Dejal Simon 4: four years after version 3, four months in development, it's time to go forth. Simon 4 includes a fresh new design, unifying all of the lists, logs and editors into a single window, so everything is at your fingertips. It also uses a more attractive layout for the lists of tests, services, filters, notifiers and reports. A much requested enhancement is the introduction of groups, enabling you to organize your tests, services, etc into logical collections. Those with lots of tests will be pleased to learn that the limits on the number of tests have been removed — everyone can have as many tests as they wish. This also simplifies the pricing for new and existing customers. There are numerous other enhancements too, like email services, a context filter, filter output in the preview, password protection, the ability to hide from the Dock, and much more. Read on for details.

Licensed Simon 3 users need to be aware that Simon 4 is a paid upgrade from previous versions. You will need to purchase an upgrade license. If you purchased Simon since November 1, 2014, you are eligible for a free upgrade; contact Dejal to receive your free license.

A new option is the Simon Service Plan subscription. Learn more about this below or on the Simon Support page.

Also note that Simon Express and Simon Free have been removed from the Mac App Store. Simon is a powerful and flexible tool, so they couldn't comply with the sandboxing requirements that Apple introduced. If you used one of these, please switch to the full version of Simon, and enjoy all the extra features. Your data will be automatically imported to version 4. Simon Express is automatically recognized as a version 3 license, so you only need an upgrade license.

Please also note that Simon 4 requires Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later, as it leverages the latest technologies. If you're still using an older OS version, you can remain on version 3 until you upgrade your OS version. You are welcome to purchase a version 4 license; it will work in version 3 as a Platinum (unlimited) license.

Read on for a summary of some of the many enhancements in Simon 4.

Great New Simon Monitor Window Design

Simon's main window, the Simon Monitor window, has been significantly redesigned. It now uses a single-window approach to display the Tests, Services, Filters, Notifiers and Reports lists in this window, switching between them via mode buttons along the left edge.

Editing tests, services, etc is now done in this window as well, via an optional info pane to the right of the active list.

As in earlier versions, the logs are displayed in a pane at the bottom of the window. This pane can now also display the Preview; see below for more on this.

The lists or logs can be hidden by dragging the pane splitter, or Cmd-clicking on the selected mode button.

Attractive New List Layouts

The lists of Tests, Services, etc have been redesigned to use a custom layout inspired by Apple Mail and other modern apps.

The lists can be sorted via a menu above the list, or via the View menu. The choice of displaying absolute dates and times (like "2014-12-25 12:34", using your local date & time format) or relative times (like "5 mins, 25 secs ago") is also available in these menus.

The Tests list shows the unviewed flag, status icon, test name, next due date/time; the uptime, service, location, last check time, and last check duration. It can also optionally display information about the most recent change and failure: the last change and when it occurred; the last error, failure & recovery date/time. These can also be toggled via those menus.

Groups

Version 4 introduces a major popularly requested feature: groups in all lists. Groups can be added to help organize the tests, services, etc into logical collections, e.g. by server or kind; whatever makes sense.

In the list, the group displays a summary of its members, e.g. the most significant status and combined uptime, with the info summary showing common values.

The menubar status menu displays groups in sub-menus, with commands that can be applied to all group members.

Redesigned editors

The editors have been completely redesigned to integrate them into the single-window approach. Selecting an item in the Tests, etc lists will now display a summary of the item in the handy new Info pane to the right of the list. An Edit button is included in the top-right of the Info pane. Click that to toggle into edit mode, where the item can be modified. The button changes to Done to switch out of editing mode. You can also click the headings on the summary to jump right to the related page in edit mode.

You can leave it in editing mode and switch between tests to quickly edit them; it will remain on the same page. Speaking of which, the page selectors have been redesigned, and a new Name page was added to edit the name and comments.

The test statistics have been moved to the test summary page for easy reference.

When multiple tests or no tests are selected, the summary page shows the values in common, and a combined view of the statistics for those tests.

Another nice subtle improvement is that the actions for the test Filters, Notifiers, Reports and Auto Pause can now be reordered, simply by dragging them.

Integrated Preview, Including Filter Output

The Preview function has been completely redesigned to integrate it into the single-window approach, and provide the ability to see the filter output in addition to the service output.

When a test is selected, the Preview feature can be displayed in place of the logs at the bottom of the window for a quick view of the test. The preview includes a web page on the left (for web-based tests), a selection list in the middle, and the service response, headers or filter output on the right. The selection list shows the status of the service or filter, and for filters, the sequence number and filter name, e.g. "#1: Block Output" for the output from a Block filter. The filter output is very useful, to see not only the result of the service, but also the result of each filter. This makes it easier than ever to build up multiple filters, taking the output from previous ones to hone in on the interesting values.

The Preview function is also available when displaying a Script-based service, filter or notifier, to run the script and see what it outputs while writing it, and to preview a report within Simon.

Enhancements to the Email Feature

The Email feature now also works as a service. Three service modes are supported: Email Send, Email Receive, and Email Cycle:

Email Send is basically the same as the Email notifier: sends a custom message via SMTP. Useful to "check in" or test that a mail server is working. It outputs the message, or an error if unsuccessful.

Email Receive fetches a list of messages from an IMAP server. It outputs the list of messages, or an error.

Email Cycle first sends a special message with a unique identifier to a SMTP server, then checks for that message arriving on an IMAP server. It cleans up after itself, and outputs the message and mailbox listing, or an error.

There are several other changes, including finally renaming the E-mail notifier as Email, adding a Transport Name field to the Email Transport Options panel, a new Email Account Options panel, and modernizing the framework used to send email. See the release notes for full details.

New Context Filter

Added a new Context filter feature, which takes the previous filter's input and some new match variables to output some context around the filter's output text. It includes controls to specify the number of characters before and/or after the match range, and/or a delimiter before and/or after the match range (e.g. you can show up to 50 characters, stopping at a line break). See the release notes for information about the new variables.

And Lots More Improvements

Too many things to list here! (See the release notes for the full list.) A few other highlights that might interest existing users include:

Added a File ▶ Share menu and a share button in the window toolbar to share the selected item(s) with other apps.

No longer truncates the difference text to 400 characters, if it's longer than that.

The data is now saved in the background, for better performance.

Many changes to improve Yosemite compatibility.

Introducing the Simon Service Plan Subscription

Need more detailed or technical assistance? Introducing the Simon Service Plan, an annual subscription for heavy users or large organizations, or anyone who wants to get the most out of Simon.

The Simon Service Plan includes all app updates, including paid major upgrades like version 4.0 and any future updates within the subscription period, at no additional cost.

The Service Plan also includes two technical support incidents each subscription year. These give you top-of-the-queue direct access to the developer via email, and can be used to answer general questions, help configure Simon, and more.

If you want to keep the old version around, just in case, you can rename it (e.g. to add the version number) rather than replacing it with the new version. That way they can both occupy the same folder without a file name conflict.

Simon 4 has eliminated the license levels. Now everyone can have as many tests as they want for the same price. New customers can purchase Simon for $99.00, and existing customers can upgrade for half that, just $49.00.

Pack is a very simple packing list, so you can get packed quickly and easily.

There's no need to maintain separate lists for each trip. There's no need to guess and enter unnecessary details like weight or cost for each item. It has a clean and elegant appearance, without blinding you with wacky colors and images.

Pack comes with a catalog containing hundreds of items as a starting point. Quickly add, edit or delete them to make your own personalized list.

When preparing for a trip, simply skim through the list, checking or unchecking items as needed for this journey. When ready, flip over to start packing, crossing off items as you put them in your suitcase.

The Choose and Pack lists can be arranged by item name, category, or person name, and can be filtered to show only packed, packed at the end, or all.

[Your browser does not support the video tag.]

Pack is free to use, and includes an optional one-time in-app purchase to unlock all of the app's premium features:

A surprise new feature: a General Preferences option to control whether or not Simon appears in the Dock (it's shown by default).

Note that when it is not shown in the Dock, it also doesn't appear in the Cmd-Tab app switcher, and it no longer has a menu bar.

When turning off the option to show in the Dock, the option to show the status menu is automatically turned on, so you can access the app via that. (You can turn it off again if you wish, in which case you'll only be able to access Simon by opening the app from the Finder.)

When it isn't in the Dock, a new action toolbar button is automatically added, to give access to the preferences and other functions.

Password protect access

Added an option in General Preferences to specify a password to use to unlock Simon access.

If set, the password is required when launching or switching to Simon.

Fixes & optimizations in this beta

Fixed missing localization strings.

Fixed the Pause sheet appearing twice sometimes.

Removed the quit confirmation preference, since it isn't used anymore anyway.

Improved the layout of the General Preferences pane.

The preference for double-clicking the tests list to Show Info now shows it in edit mode.

Re-enabled the license reminder button for unlicensed users.

More in four: see the Simon What's New page for important information and details of the changes in version 4.

Over the past 20 years or so, I've worked on a number of products, but I spent most of my time with one big client, working on the Profile apps for iOS and Mac, large medical practice management apps. Profile for iOS is an app that connects to the IHServer, and supports patient management, appointments (calendaring), tasks, clinical notes, letters, measurements, and many more features. Profile for Mac is a client/server solution with all of that and much more for the medical professionals in New Zealand.

That work kept me busy for almost two decades, but recently petered out as the company moved development in-house as they continued to grow and evolve. I took this opportunity to spend a few months working on the most ambitious upgrade ever of Dejal Simon: version 4.0, that includes a major redesign of the UI, and significant refactoring of the 12-year-old code to modernize it (64-bit, ARC, auto-layout, etc). Now that I'm putting the finishing touches on the Simon 4.0 betas, with a general release soon, it's time to line up some new contract work.

Over the years I've had many offers of contract projects, several of which I had to decline due to lack of time. But now I'm available. If you or anyone you know is in need of an experienced iOS or Mac developer, please get in touch to discuss whether I can help.

(I'm also open to enhancing Dejal apps as contract work, when a feature request fits with the product design goals. Several of the enhancements in Simon 3 & 4 are the result of paid projects for customers who wanted to make the powerful tool even more useful for their needs, including the Email Cycle service, Context filter, History filter, and more.)